Can big dozers produce a good surface finish, and is there generally a requirement to have a smaller finish dozer run over and tidy up around their worksite? Alex
A definition of your version of small and big would help. Some consider a D6T a finish dozer. With an S/U blade that's a production dozer to me. Anything with a PAT blade will be a good finish machine if it's tight. Most of my experience being with Deere dozers of several vintages is of little help to you in AUS. So, i'd say any of the low track hi-stat Cat's are good finish dozers. I don't know much about the high track 4's and 5's other than they make skidders out of them.
I was wondering for smaller projects like constructing a 10 Megalitre dam say, is there a requirement to have something like a D3 or D4 to clean up the worksite? Running a D6 would be fairly expensive compared to say a D4, where you are not using the extra horsepower to make light finishing cuts. Or do contractors just use on machine and do all of the heavy plus finishing work with it? There seems to be an opening in doing a lot of the small, pokey and tight cleaning up jobs.
There are a few things other than machine size that determine a good finish. I would say a good operator can give a good finish in most conditions. Remember a big machine has a longer wheelbase and therefore it's easier to maintain a smooth contour. It also has the power to level rock and hard soil that a small machine would just bounce over.
Also, newer dozer will be much better for finish grading because of their faster hydraulics. Having a hard time picturing how big a 10Ml pond is, but if i'm close a dolly scraper on the back of a D4 would work well building them in the right conditions.
I have seen guys grade with D7's and 8's. When they where done you would have thought they use a smaller dozer with a PAT blade. but if you have alot of small slopes and tight spots a small machine is nice. really comes down to how good the operator is and what you are looking for in the end product.
We build terraces and ponds mostly we run a D7 and some D6's but we have a Deere 750 Cll with a pat blade to finish with. I can finish almost as good with the 7 as I can with the 750 but it is quicker and cheaper to use the 750. We get $175/hr for the 7 and $125/hr for the 750 so we can save the coustmer $$ by finishing with the 750. I am shure there are people out there that will say you could make more by the hr if u used the 7 to finish with but saveing the coustmer $$ makes for repeat coustmers and there is a lot of comepetion in our area. I am a strong beliver in leting the big machines do what they are made to do make long strait pushes and let the little machines do the finish work. If I only had 1 machine on a job and had to push and finish with it I would take a D6 size machine it is kind of the best of both worlds.
Good luck
Not sure what a TD 14 is in the comparable cat, but i will probably be working with that. 10ft straight blade should be reasonable to do the cleanups with it. Anyone used one of those 4 Ton dozers from Komatsu or Mitsubishi and what place do they have in the dozer market?